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Melanie Martinez (artist)
About Melanie Adele Martinez (born April 28, 1995) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Astoria, Queens, and raised in Baldwin, New York, she subsequently rose to prominence in 2012 after appearing on the American television vocal talent show The Voice. Following the show, she released her debut single titled "Dollhouse". Signing to Atlantic Records, she released her debut EP, also named Dollhouse (2014). Martinez later released her debut studio album, Cry Baby (2015). The album went on to be certified platinum by the Redording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in February 2017. Martinez's songs "Sippy Cup", "Mad Hatter", "Mrs. Potato Head", "Cry Baby", "Pacify Her" and "Soap" all songs featured on Cry Baby, were all certified gold in the U.S by RIAA, and her songs "Dollhouse" and "Pity Party" received platinum certification from RIAA. Discography Albums * Cry Baby * K-12 EPs * Dollhouse * Pity Party * Cry Baby's Extra Clutter Singles * Dollhouse * Carousel * Pity Party * Soap * Sippy Cup * Gingerbread Man * PIGGYBACK Early Life Martinez was born in Astoria, Queens, to parents Murcy Martinez and Jose Martinez who are of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent. Her family moved to Baldwin, New York, on Long Island, when Martinez was four. She listened to Brandy, Britney Spears, Shakira, The Beatles, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls and Christina Aguilera growing up, and wanted to be a singer from a young age. Martinez attended Plaza Elementary School, crediting her teacher Mr. Nadien with teaching her how to sing, and in kindergarten, Martinez began writing poetry. Martinez says she had few friends growing up and was a homebody, as she was "very emotional" and found it difficult to explain her feelings, crying when overwhelmed. She practiced photography and painting. Due to her emotionality as a child, she claims to have been referred to as a "cry baby" by others, which sparked the creation of the titular character of her debut album, Cry Baby. Martinez grew up in a "traditional Latin household" where she was made to feel shameful about talking about sexuality and felt as if she would not be accepted if she came out. She claims that her family is now fully accepting of her being bisexual. At fourteen, Martinez taught herself how to play guitar by studying chord diagrams of songs she enjoyed, which she found online, and wrote her first song by adding her poetry to one of the chord diagrams, but claims that playing guitar "eventually got stale". Martinez graduated from Baldwin High School. Career 2012: MSG Varsity Talent Show and The Voice In 2012, during her junior year of high school, Martinez participated in the MSG'' Varsity Talent Show'', a televised talent competition. She sang The Beatles' rendition of "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong and "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" by The Four Tops. She was eliminated in the second round. Later in 2012, Martinez auditioned for the third season of The Voice. She had not watched the show herself prior to the audition. The initial, untelevised audition was an open call, held at Javits Center. She recalls that while she and her mother were driving to the audition, her mother's car broke down before they reached the Midtown Tunnel, and the two were forced to "hitchhike" a taxicab in order to get there. Several months after the initial audition, while at Roosevelt Field Mall, Martinez received word that she had advanced to the "second round". She then received multiple callbacks until she was finally selected to audition on the show itself. Martinez auditioned singing Britney Spears's "Toxic". Three of the four judges, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton, hit the "I Want You" button for her. Martinez chose Adam Levine to be her coach. In the Battle Round, Martinez competed against Caitlin Michele. They performed a duet of the Ellie Goulding song "Lights". Martinez won and moved on to the Knockout Round. Michele was stolen by Cee Lo Green and also moved on. In the Knockout Round, Martinez was paired with Sam James. She chose to sing La Roux's "Bulletproof". Levine eliminated James, and Martinez moved on to the Live Rounds as one of the five remaining members of Team Adam. In week one of the Live Rounds, Martinez sang "Hit the Road Jack". Public vote saved Team Adam members Amanda Brown and Bryan Keith. Levine then chose Martinez over Loren Allred and Joselyn Rivera to remain in the competition. In week three, Martinez's performance of "Seven Nation Army" finished the voting period at #10 on the iTunes Top 200 Single Chart, causing her iTunes votes to be multiplied by ten. This occurred again in week four, when "Too Close" ended the voting period at #6. Martinez was eliminated by audience vote in week five, along with the fellow Team Adam member Amanda Brown, leaving Levine with no artists. In response, Martinez said, "I never expected to get this far and this is beyond what I've ever dreamed of. I'm just so glad I got to express who I am as an artist and really touch people's hearts because that was the ultimate goal. 2013–2014: Dollhouse EP After the show, Martinez began working independently on original material, and claims to have spent the majority of 2013 writing said material. She released her debut single, "Dollhouse", on February 9, 2014. She later compared the song's story to Edward Scissorhands, saying "It's the perfect home with the perfect lawn and they all look the same. But behind each house there's a screwed up group of people who are hiding behind wealth and perfection." Martinez also released a music video for the track, which was fan-funded by an Indiegogo page created by Martinez, and hair, makeup, and shooting were all done by friends of hers. The song was produced and cowritten by NYC songwriting duo Kinetics & One Love. On April 7, 2014, Martinez signed to Atlantic Records and announced she would tour. She released her debut EP, Dollhouse, on May 19, 2014. The only single from the EP, "Carousel", was also certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and featured in a preview for FX's miniseries American Horror Story: Freak Show. The song reached number nine on the Alternative Digital Songs chart. A video for the track was also released. 2015–2017: Cry Baby On June 1, 2015, Martinez released the single "Pity Party", which was certified gold by the RIAA, and the chorus of which samples Lesley Gore's "It's My Party". On July 10, 2015, Martinez released the album's second single "Soap". The official music video has over thirty million views on YouTube. It reached number twelve on the Alternative Digital Songs chart, and number sixteen on the Pop Digital Songs chart. "Sippy Cup" followed on July 31, followed by the album fourteen days later. Cry Baby was released on August 14, 2015, to moderate critical acclaim. The album debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200. Martinez released a Christmas-themed single, "Gingerbread Man", in December 2015. She initially released the song on SoundCloud on December 21, 2015 as a "gift for her fans", but later released the track on iTunes in January 2016 as a single. The music video of her song "Cry Baby" was released on March 14, 2016. The karaoke-style music video for "Alphabet Boy", which Martinez directed, was released on June 2, 2016. Martinez released double feature videos for "Soap" and "Training Wheels" together, as well as "Tag, You're It" and "Milk and Cookies." Martinez has finished recording her second album, describing it as the stories of characters living in Cry Baby's neighborhood. In October 2016, she released a commercial for her fragrance called Cry Baby Perfume Milk, adding that the "idea for this perfume has been cultivating in my brain since the moment I finished writing my album." It was directly distributed by Martinez's record label, Atlantic, making them the first record label to distribute a fragrance. In November 2016, Martinez released her second EP, Cry Baby's Extra Clutter, a physical vinyl release of the bonus tracks from Cry Baby as well as Martinez's single, "Gingerbread Man". She released the music video for her song "Pacify Her" followed in December 2016 by a video for "Mrs. Potato Head". The video for "Mad Hatter" was released September 23, 2017. Cry Baby was certified Platinum on February 24, 2017. 2017–present: Film and K-12 In March 2017, Martinez expressed her wishes to produce a film telling the story of each song from her second album, explaining "I'm currently writing a film... I'm going to spend the year working on it, directing, shooting, make up and everything so it's a lot of work". On May 15, 2019, Martinez released the first teaser trailer for the album revealing the title K-12, set to be released on September 6, with the album cover unveiled a day later through Instagram. Artistry The subject matter of Martinez's songs are typically based on personal experiences. Martinez describes her own music as "very dark and honest" and "hip hop/trap inspired beats with creepy nostalgic childlike sounds such as baby pianos, music boxes, and toys". Martinez's music has been described by The Guardian as "off-kilter, sweary electropop". Rolling Stone described Martinez's music as "twisted lullabies about love, danger and madness", and compared her music to that of "'Coin-Operated Boy'-era Dresden Dolls" and Lana Del Rey. The New York Time's Jon Pareles described her music as "perching prettily tinkling keyboards and concise pop choruses amid the slow, ominous basslines and twitchy percussion of Southern hip-hop – a candy-coated variation on the dirges of Lorde and Lana Del Rey", and described her voice as "whispery, sardonic, tearful, and furious". Martinez has also been described by Keaton Bell of the Red Dirt Report as having a mezzo-sopreno vocal range. Billboard's Jason Lipshutz also compared Martinez to Del Rey and Lorde, saying, "Martinez is clearly cribbing from the dimly lit pop stylings of Lorde and Lana Del Rey, but while her wispy delivery strikes the same femme fatale poses, she lacks the subtlety of her influences", and that "Martinez is admirably ambitious, but her insistence on sticking to Cry Baby's central idea leaves her contorting into uncomfortable positions". The Guardian called her image "doll-like and decidedly emo...hyperreal", and described her music as "part-nursery-rhyme, part tragic life story". Martinez describes her alter ego and the protagonist of her debut album, Cry Baby, as a "fairy tale" version of herself. Influences Martinez has cited the Beatles, Neutral Milk Hotel, Feist, Kimbra, Zooey Deschanel, Regina Spektor, and CocoRosie as influences of hers. Specific albums which have influenced her music include The Idler Wheel... by Fiona Apple and Ariana Grande's albums Yours Truly and My Everything. She attributes the "heavy hip-hop influence" in her music to her father playing hip-hop music in the family's house often during her childhood. Martinez cites Mark Ryden, Aleksandra Waliszewska and Nicoletta Ceccoli as her favorite visual artists, saying that they've influenced the visuals in her music videos. She named Tim Burton as a large influence of hers, and has said that to make a movie with him would be her "one dream". Endorsements and products Martinez collaborated with cosmetics company Lime Crime, Inc. to release two "exclusive" lipsticks: a blue lipstick called "Cry Baby" on August 17, 2015 and a brown lipstick called "Teddy Bear" on March 9, 2016. On October 25, 2016, she released a commercial for a new fragrance called Cry Baby Perfume Milk. It was directly distributed by Martinez's label, the first record label to distribute a fragrance. Public image At age sixteen, after watching 101 Dalmatians, Martinez dyed half of her hair blonde, in the same vein as Cruella de Vil. She became known for the look as well as her "baby doll"-inspired outfits in music videos and when performing. Sexual assault allegation On December 4, 2017, Timothy Heller, a woman with whom Martinez once shared a friendship, alleged via Twitter that Martinez had sexually assaulted and raped her. The following day, Martinez tweeted a response to Heller's accusations, saying the allegations "horrified and saddened" her, and that Heller "never said no to what they chose to do together". On December 9, 2017, Martinez released a second statement, thanking her fans for pointing out Heller's "false statements". Later, she posted a statement on Twitter, concluding with: "...I would never be intimate with someone without their absolute consent." Martinez released the song "Piggyback" on SoundCloud in what some believe to be a response to Heller's accusations.